China's consulate in French Polynesia says it will only pay what it owes to a Tahitian property owners if there is no negative mention of its officials on the internet.
The clause is in a letter sent by consulate's lawyers to the owners who are promised to be paid $US20,000 this week if they agree to no longer mention the rental dispute.
Residence Taina used as Chinese diplomatic mission in French Polynesia Photo: supplied
The money is to settle a protracted dispute over the 11-year rental of a house, which China's diplomats had altered without consent and turned into a consulate.
The owner had at the same time been refused access to the premises by the diplomats who pointed out that the rented house had become the territory of China.
Despite being given notice in July last year to return the property by the end of February, they stayed put.
But amid a social media campaign over the continued occupation, the Chinese diplomats agreed in April to move out by August and to pay for restoration work as assessed by a mutually acceptable expert.
After first rejecting the expert report, the consulate is now prepared to reimburse the money.
The letter by its lawyers stipulates that the owner Huguette Ly and her daughter Eva Bitton accept the $US20,000 as a final settlement and refrain from any action that has a link to negotiations about the lease, its execution or what followed the end of the contract.
It also states that both parties are prohibited from denigrating each other.
China's consulate in Tahiti makes a halt to any negative publicity on the internet a condition for settling property-related bill Photo: supplied
The letter says a substantial condition is that "no internet, no social network makes any negative mention on the issue of the consular officials or the consulate of China, once this transaction has been signed".
But Eva Bitton rejects this clause.
"In any case I will not accept any attempt at corruption or blackmail to obtain a reparation enshrined in the law, while there is a memorandum of understanding signed by the Chinese Consul Shen Zhiliang on behalf of the Chinese Consulate dating from April 2018."
She says instead of trying on some illicit blackmail, China should lodge a complaint for defamation if it feels threatened.
Eva Bitton says there is also still a debt of $US200 for the consulate's last bill from the power company EDT.
She says her mother's bond had been taken by EDT because the Chinese consulate had stopped settling its monthly electricity bill.
This will be added to the outstanding debt of the $US20,000.
"Harassing, causing debt or blackmailing a 77-year-old woman is not a mark of respect," she says.